Cut-out Sugar Cookies and Icing

Cut-out Sugar Cookies

I like a sugar cookie that is firm but not crisp and flavored with vanilla or a little bit of almond. For most rolled and cut cookies, it’s important that dough keep it’s shape (not spread much) and not puff up.

I have two favorite recipes for rolled sugar cookies; one is “Rich Roll Cookies”, which are the ones Mom has made for many years, from a 1960’s Joy of Cooking cookbook. A year or two ago I found another recipe that I like -- it makes a cookie just like the Rich Roll Cookies but in a much larger quantity. As a matter of fact, it almost completely fills the bowl of my KitchenAid mixer; I switch from the paddle to the dough hook to mix in the last of the flour.

I usually sugar cookies with buttercream frosting or pour a glaze over them.


Never-Fail Sugar Cookies (slightly adapted from a recipe found at kitchengifts.com)

6 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
2 cups (4 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract, or 1 tsp. each of vanilla extract and almond extract
1 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy; add eggs and vanilla and mix well.

Combine dry ingredients; gradually add to butter mixture, mixing until flour is completely incorporated and dough comes together. Divide the dough into thirds and roll each portion to ¼” thickness between sheets of waxed paper; slide the sheets of rolled dough onto a cookie sheet and refrigerate until firm, 30 minutes to one hour.

Remove waxed paper from chilled dough; cut dough into desired shapes and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until the cookies are just beginning to brown around the edges. Cool completely before frosting.

Makes about 5 dozen 2” cookies.


Glacé Icing for sugar cookies

Note: this icing takes a while to set up; I usually put the iced cookies onto baking sheets and put them in a cold oven (lots of storage space in there!) overnight.

1 lb. confectioners sugar, sifted
6 Tbsp. milk
6 Tbsp. light corn syrup
1/2 -1 tsp. vanilla or almond extract
food coloring, if desired

Mix sugar & milk; add corn syrup, mixing just until combined. Add flavoring and food coloring (if you want to make multiple colors or flavors, divide the plain icing into small bowls, then add flavoring and/or coloring to the smaller portions). Spoon or pipe icing over cooled sugar cookies; allow to set before storing.

Chocolate-Orange Blossoms

I use the Hershey mini kisses to make these cookies about the size of a quarter, but here is the recipe (from Pillsbury) using the regular kisses. To make the mini cookies, make the balls of dough about the size of a grape and bake them for about 8 minutes.


Chocolate-Orange Blossoms

½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar, packed
¼ cup cocoa
½ cup shortening
½ cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1-2 Tbsp. grated orange rind (you could substitute 1 or 1-1/2 tsp. orange extract)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1-3/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
additional sugar
48 Hershey kisses, unwrapped

Combine sugars, cocoa, shortening, and butter; beat until light and fluffy. Add orange rind, vanilla, and eggs, blending well. Add flour, baking soda, and salt; mix well. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate one hour for easier handling.

Shape dough into 1” balls; roll in sugar. Place 2” apart on ungreased cookie sheets; bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are set. Immediately top each cookie with a chocolate kiss, pressing down firmly (cookies may crack around edges). Remove from baking sheets to cool completely.

Makes 4 dozen cookies (if you use the mini Hershey kisses and make the balls of dough about the size of a grape, you’ll get about 175 cookies).

Cornmeal Cookies with Cranberries

Cornmeal cookies are usually like a not-too-sweet sugar cookie. The cornmeal doesn’t flavor the cookies at all but it does give some texture; you can feel the slight grittiness of the cornmeal, but it doesn't make the cookies dry or crumbly. These have become one of my favorite cookies.

The dough for these cookies came from allrecipes.com; the dried cranberries were from a recipe in a cookbook, and the glaze recipe came from another cookie recipe. The glaze sets up quickly; you’ll be able to store or stack the cookies about 30 minutes after they’re glazed. Tip for glazing the cookies: to keep your hand clean, wear a vinyl glove (non-latex, like a medical glove from the doctor, dentist, or pharmacy) on one hand; pick the cookies up and brush them with glaze, then set them on a rack or waxed paper until the glaze is firm.


Cornmeal Cookies with Cranberries

¾ cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1-1/2 cups flour
½ cup cornmeal (NOT corn muffin mix)
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
½ to ¾ cup chopped dried cranberries

Beat butter and sugar until light; beat in egg and vanilla.

Combine dry ingredients; gradually blend into butter mixture; stir in dried cranberries. Wrap dough in plastic wrap; chill one hour or until firm.

Shape dough into small, grape-sized balls; place on cookie sheet and flatten slightly. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until edges are lightly golden. Cool on wire rack; brush cooled cookies with glaze.

Makes about 100 small (1-1/2”) cookies; can be made larger if desired.


Orange Glaze

Combine 1 cup confectioners sugar, 1 Tbsp. water, 1 Tbsp. orange liqueur (or 1 tsp. orange extract); stir until smooth. Add more water if mixture is too thick to brush onto cookies.

Cherry Chocolate Kisses

Cherry Chocolate Kisses

A few years ago I discovered that Hershey’s makes mini kisses, sold in bags in the baking aisle at the grocery … ever since then I’ve been making tiny little kiss cookies, miniature versions of the larger, more familiar kiss or ‘blossom’ cookies.

Unfortunately for me the mini kisses are hard to find in this area, so whenever I’d visit family in Ohio I’d pick up a few bags of them to bring home. Super Walmart does carry them but the nearest one is about 40 miles away.

Here is the recipe from Pillsbury, using the regular Hershey kiss candy. To make the mini cookies, finely chop the cherries and roll the dough into balls about the size of a dime; the recipe will make about 8 dozen mini cookies.


Cherry Chocolate Kisses (from Pillsbury)

1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 tsp. maraschino cherry liquid
½ tsp. almond extract
3-4 drops red food coloring
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp. salt (I use much less)
½ cup maraschino cherries, drained and chopped
granulated sugar, about ½ cup
about 48 chocolate Hershey kisses, unwrapped

In a large bowl, combine powdered sugar, butter, cherry liquid, almond extract, and food coloring; blend well. Add flour and salt; mi well. Stir in cherries, Shape dough into 1” balls; roll in additional sugar and place 2” apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until edges of cookies are light golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately top each cookie with a candy kiss, pressing down firmly (edges of cookies may crack). Remove from cookie sheets to cool completely. Tip: chocolate will stay soft for a long time; place the cookies in the refrigerator for an hour to set the chocolate.

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

Mary's Lemon-Blueberry Tea Cookies

I 'invented' this cookie recipe a couple of years ago when I was trying to decide what to do with some dried blueberries that I'd bought. I used a favorite orange cookie recipe as a base. I like to use the dried blueberries from Target ("Archer Farms" is their store's brand name); they're a nice small size. The dried blueberries from Costco are larger but I've used them after chopping them up a bit.

Mary's Lemon-Blueberry Tea Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 Tbsp. grated lemon zest

1 Tbsp. lemon juice (optional)

1-2 tsp. lemon extract (use the larger amount if you don't use the lemon juice)

2 eggs

3 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 to 1-1/2 cups dried blueberries (chopped, if they're large berries)

coarse sugar

Cream butter and sugar; add lemon ingredients and eggs, beating well.

Mix flour and baking powder into creamed mixture; stir in dried blueberries. Divide dough in half; on waxed paper shape each portion into a log, then wrap & refrigerate logs of dough until well-chilled.

Using one portion of dough at a time (keep remaining dough chilled), cut dough into 1/2" slices, then cut each slice into quarters. Roll each quarter-slice into a ball, then roll each ball in coarse sugar. Place on baking sheet and flatten slightly; bake about 10 minutes at 350 degrees (cookies will be pale in color). Cool on wire rack. Makes about 175 small cookies ... you can of course make larger cookies.